Government decries absence of preservation, processing technique

President Muhammadu Buhari has decried the culture of waste of agricultural products in the country, blaming it on lack of means of preservation.

He lamented a situation where cattle farmers throw away milk generated from their cattle because of lack of means of preservation and processing of the product, to maximise their profit.

Buhari, who stated this during a meeting with the Global Chief Executive Officer, Friesland Campina, the Netherlands, Mr. Roelof Joosten, last week, said the country has failed to develop its assets on a permanent basis, a problem the administration is determined to work on.

He urged Friesland Campina to educate cattle farmers that “quality matters more than quantity,” and help them organise into cooperatives for better business.

According to statement by the President’s spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, the president said the goal of his administration is to develop the nation’s assets on a permanent basis.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Audu Ogbeh, who was also at the event, promised that herdsmen would soon be organised into ranches.

“They will be organised with special grasses and water, which would give better yield, and make the animals healthier,” he said.

He disclosed that special flasks, which could preserve raw milk for up to six hours, would soon be made available to enable cattle farmers get the product to dairies in good quality.

On his part, Mr Joosten, said Friesland Campina is a cooperative owned by 19,000 farmers founded 145 years ago, and began business in Nigeria in 1973 as Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria. He said it is ready to partner with the Federal Government to build a healthier populace through better nutrition, collaborate in the School Feeding Programme, and promote dairy development in the country.

It also boasted of providing nutrition support for Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria’s northeast, a region ravaged by over six years of insurgency.